This is my first time trying to process my own. I'm trying to trim things up for the grinder (gonna grind most of it). Two things are evident: there is not a sharp knife in this house and I don't know what the heck I'm doing. Do you try to trim off all the silver skin for the grinder?
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Processing your own
- Thread starter eastTN270
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A lot of people people don't but I do. I trim everything that's not red meat.
oaktreeplanter
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I only trim off the fat and eat everything else. That's one advantage to having a good grinder. I worked in a slaughter house a few years ago and learned some valuable lessons real fast. Waste not, want not!
I hope you enjoy the process and eating what you kill
I hope you enjoy the process and eating what you kill
Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors
Well-Known Member
I always trim silver skin. The sinews on the back strap has to go too. I've learned over the years that you can process deer quick and easy but it's nothing to be desired. Or... put your best effort into it ,trim it up good, "waste" the stuff that's gonna taste bad and the next time you see a big buck you wont notice his horns because you'll be thinking about them lions! Ask the butcher at the grocery store for beef fat, buy a 3lbs. Pack of smoked bacon ends and tips, weigh it out 80%-20% and thank me later...p.s. it will make you wanna shoot more doe. It's what we have to do in east tn. To make em taste good. Imo.
Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors
Well-Known Member
I would also encourage you to cut back straps in 6" sections, put a steak rub with olive oil on them, put on the grill medium high and cook to 135 degrees....good grief the ladies in my life are like hogs to slop over it. And my wife was NOT interested in wild game.....but now? Geeze
batten_down
Well-Known Member
I'll remove the tenderloins first from inside the cavity. (After a couple days I'll grill them and eat them with fried eggs, it's becoming a tradition) Then I'll remove the backstraps and cut each one into thirds (removing the silver skin) and wrap them in pairs. Gives me three separate meals from backstrap. There's two good roasts in each hind quarter, so that's four roasts. Then I'll grind the rest. (Sometimes I'll keep the neck roast whole, or grind it. Depends on freezer room.) I try to cut out all the silver skin. But don't go crazy. Before grinding, I go to the local grocer and pick up as much beef or pork fat as they can spare. Most times it's free. Then I do a coarse grind first. After the first time through I'll start making batches of four softball-sized handfuls of venison and one handful of fat. Then send it back through again. This way my finished product is roughly an 80-20 blend. It helps if you refrigerate your meat before grinding. I do all my grinding outside on a cold day, with a warm drink close by. No bugs, and keeps the wife happy.
AlabamaSwamper
Well-Known Member
I get most of it. A good grinder will take care of the rest. I freeze all mine then take out after season. In the mean time I buy the fattiest Chuck roasts my local meat man has and mix it 50/50. Freezing and doing all at once give me time to catch beef on sale.
But after eating thousands of pounds of deer burger over the years I just don't care for the dry lean stuff anymore. The Chuck roast puts enough fat in it that I can eat it.
I ate 100% elk this weekend a friend gave me. Didn't care for it. To dry and lean.
We also will buy some Boston butts, get our local meat guy to save trimmings for us and make pork sausage while we got the grinder out. One day of grinding and one clean up a year
But after eating thousands of pounds of deer burger over the years I just don't care for the dry lean stuff anymore. The Chuck roast puts enough fat in it that I can eat it.
I ate 100% elk this weekend a friend gave me. Didn't care for it. To dry and lean.
We also will buy some Boston butts, get our local meat guy to save trimmings for us and make pork sausage while we got the grinder out. One day of grinding and one clean up a year
Bad habit
Well-Known Member
Ideally you want at least 35% bacon. I buy the 10 pound boxes at the grocery store for about $30. They were $15 to $18 last year. I add it in on my initial grind, mix well, the regrind into bags. A boned out young deer will get you 20 to 25 lbs of meat less the backstraps.
As far as knives go- your favorite skinning knife is NOT what you want. Get a 7 inch deboning knife and a long round steel like you see the butchers using. You need the flexibility of the thin blade. You do not need a razor sharp knife.
I have processed probably 100 of my deer and other people's deer over the last 20 years and this is what was taught to me by a professional butcher. The cost savings versus taking everything to a butcher had paid for my equipment many times over and I get back my deer- not community deer.
As far as knives go- your favorite skinning knife is NOT what you want. Get a 7 inch deboning knife and a long round steel like you see the butchers using. You need the flexibility of the thin blade. You do not need a razor sharp knife.
I have processed probably 100 of my deer and other people's deer over the last 20 years and this is what was taught to me by a professional butcher. The cost savings versus taking everything to a butcher had paid for my equipment many times over and I get back my deer- not community deer.
backyardtndeer
Well-Known Member
Remove as much as I can before grinding, I want just red meat in what I feed my family. I got to where we are feeding the dogs the shanks and other stuff that takes forever to trim.
Omega
Well-Known Member
I do about the same, and used to do the same for the shanks, but have run across many recipes for them that I am going to try and cook some to see if they are as good as they make them out to be.
Shanks are my favorite cut. The kids love them, too.
BSK
Well-Known Member
It's an arduous task, but we "skin" every muscle group, removing all fat and facia before cutting into roasts, steaks and grinding everything else. The improvement in taste is worth the effort. We add no beef fat because we have several family members with Alfa Gal allergy and they can't handle the beef fat. Of course, we don't try to make burgers either. The ground meat goes into tacos, chili, etc.
Bone Collector
Well-Known Member
This is what I do. Sometimes I leave the Sinew on and when it is time to grind I will trim then. Cuts down on the work all at once. I too believe that is ok to waste a little if you know what you are "wasting" is going to make your end product worse.
Also agree on adding some bacon to your ground meat. Makes great burgers.
It is work, but it gets easier as you go along. It is fun to try new things. Over the years I went from strictly rough cuts (roasts, straps, loins), to making ground meat, sausage, pastrami, jerky, and this year started making stock. Everything has tasted great, because the care of the meat is what determines if it tastes "gamey" or not.
catman529
Well-Known Member
Trim off the really thick pieces of silver skin, but don't worry about the rest. A good grinder will turn it all into good ground meat. Use the fine grind plate with the smaller holes. If you have one of the cheaper household grinders, it might struggle with the silver skin. A commercial grade grinder (or high end consumer grade) like the LEM Big Bite will eat the silver skin like butter.
I feed my trimmings to our pup as well but that sucker aint gettin them shanks!
Osso Buco is osso good. Especially braised in a French red wine for hours on end.....
Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors
Well-Known Member
Please explain your process
Not TX300mag, but this is what I think is the most simple way to cook shanks for a beginner.
Brown shanks in a dutch oven. Then remove.
Quarter an onion, chunk up 2 carrots and 2 celery stalks. Then brown in dutch oven.
Set shank back in dutch oven with the vegetables. Pour in any shank juices that came out of it.
Pour in cheap, store bought, chicken broth to within 1" of the top of the shank. Don't use the good homemade stuff, because this cheap stuff will taste amazing once done.
Throw in 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme.
Cover and simmer for 3-4 hours. The meat will slowly pull back from the bone as the connective tissue breaks down. You'll know when it's done when the meat crumbles/shreds when you pinch it with tongs. It would be really hard to over cook it, but if it still gives you some resistance when you try to break it up, it's not done.
After you cook a couple this way, there's a million different things you can could it with for different results. But, you just have to make sure you cook it long enough.
Omega
Well-Known Member
No wine? Most if not all the recipes I have seen contain a bunch of red wine, I just hope that being drunk isn't what makes them taste good.
A lot of people do use wine with a recipe like this. I just don't like rich sauces. I've added a cheap lager to mine in the past, but you can't taste it with the end product, so it's just a waste of a beer, IMO. I will have a glass or two of red wine while enjoying the end product. That's the proper use of wine in this recipe.No wine? Most if not all the recipes I have seen contain a bunch of red wine, I just hope that being drunk isn't what makes them taste good.
